Get $15, $30, Or $60 In Chase Credit Card "Payment Protection" Class Action

Get $15, $30, Or $60 In Chase Credit Card "Payment Protection" Class Action: "

You're eligible to claim cash if you had a Chase credit card and got charged for a payment protection product between Sept 2, 2004 and Nov 11, 2010, thanks to a recent class action settlement.

The suit alleges that JP Morgan Chase enrolled cardholders in Payment Protection Plans without being completely upfront about the terms of the plans. These plans suspend interest on balances and let you make only minimum monthly payments for up to two years. They are supposed to be for when a major life event or tragedy makes it impossible for you to keep paying your credit card bill. While normal interest is suspended, the program charged .8% of your balance as a monthly fee.

Part of the rub is that they enroll you in advance of the event, charging you $.89 for every $100 of the monthly balance you carry.

Additionally, in order to increase enrollment, Chase sent out $20 checks to prospects. If you cashed the check, you were enrolled in the program. The lawsuit, and complaints online, like this one on Consumerist, say that canceling was difficult and customers were subjected to a lengthy retention process.

Chase has admitted no wrongdoing and agreed to settle, creating a fund of $20,000,000.

You have until August 8th to make your claim and only people who fill out the claim form will get monies. The monies will be $15, $30, or $60 depending on how aggrieved is the class you fall into.

Kardonick v. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Settlement [Official Site]

RELATED

Chase Enrolled Me in Payment Protector Against My Will, Starts Charging Me

Chase's Crappy Payment Protection [StopBuyingCrap.com]

Payment protection plan is too restrictive [Cleveland.com]

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Airlines Not Passing On Savings Of Not Having To Pay FAA Taxes

Airlines Not Passing On Savings Of Not Having To Pay FAA Taxes: "

When Congress failed Friday to extend a bill that would have kept the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) running, they handed airlines a $25 million a day gift. Without the extension, the FAA doesn't have the authority to collect taxes. But rather than pass on the savings, nearly all airlines actually raised fares to about the same amount as the federal taxes. Most consumers won't notice because prices are the same, even though it's effectively a price hike.

The taxes include a 7.5% levy on domestic tickets, $3.70 for each segment of the fight, and a $16.30 tax on international arrivals and departures. Spirit and Alaska Airlines were among a small clutch of airlines to not pocket the bonanza.

'The consumer should have saved anywhere from $25 to $50 round trip,' Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare told NYT. 'Instead, it's a windfall for the airlines.'

'Basically, consumers are now paying the same as they did last week,' Jean Medina, a spokesperson for the Air Transport Association, responded rather unhelpfully.

But what about people who bought their tickets before Saturday? They already paid the federal taxes, but now, during the period during which they're flying, no one has the authority to collect them. How about a refund?

That will probably happen. JetBlue has already said they would give out refunds to flyers who asked for them. Virgin America told customers that they might be able to get one from the IRS. Most airlines are probably going to wait for guidance from the Feds on what to do, once they are authorized to pick up their pencils again.

A Bonanza for Airlines as Taxes End [NYT]

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Happy Hot Dog Birthday! The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile Turns 75

Happy Hot Dog Birthday! The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile Turns 75: "

If only we'd known Monday was the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile's 75th birthday, we would've popped a package of hot dogs on the grill to celebrate! The classic car was born in 1936, and has been bringing tubular meat joy around the country ever since.

Time reports on the big birthday, noting that not much has changed for the vehicle -- it's still rocking the orange and yellow paint job -- but has now added a celebratory party hat in honor of the big 75.

The first iteration of the processed meat creation was a 13-foot metal shell seen around in Chicago to advertise Oscar Mayer's hot dogs. The man with the plan for mobile wiener domination is said to be Oscar's nephew, Carl Mayer. He then got the job of driving his idea around town as a reward for being so dang smart.

Eventually, the roving wiener truck became an icon for the company, as it expanded and began selling other processed meat products.

The most recent Wienermobile is 27 feet and has other five other sausage friends in the fleet. So who gets the job of steering the iconic cars around the U.S.? Each year 12 college grads are dubbed 'hotdoggers' and show up throughout the country at various promotional events, including the Super Bowl and Kentucky Derby.

Happy (belated) birthday, Wienermobile! We toast our buns to you.

One Beefy Birthday: Oscar Mayer's Wienermobile Turns 75 [Time.com]

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Grocery Store Lures Customers To Spend More With Scent Machines

Grocery Store Lures Customers To Spend More With Scent Machines: "

How many times have you been hungry, gone shopping and ended up with three packages of donut holes you really didn't need? A grocery store in Brooklyn, N.Y. is taking advantage of grumbly tummies with scent marketing, as way to get consumers to spend more at the store.

CBS News reports on the technique employed by local chain Net Cost. The store has installed five scent machines, made by ScentAir, which constantly send out wafts of fresh-baked bread, delicious milk chocolate or refreshing grapefruit, depending on the section they're nearest to.

The store's merchandise coordinator, Angelina Khristichenko, says she installed the machines two months ago after hearing about them overseas.

'I think because of these machines it makes customers hungrier,' she said.

According to the report, sales in the produce department have already gone up seven percent. At $99/month to run each machine, that's not too shabby.

Do you think something like this would entice you to buy more at the store?

N.Y. grocery store turns to scent marketing [CBS News]

Thanks to Harper for the tip!

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Bank Of America Paying Out $410 Million For Reordering Your Transactions To Maximize Overdraft Fees

Bank Of America Paying Out $410 Million For Reordering Your Transactions To Maximize Overdraft Fees: "

What makes this Bank of America $410 million class action settlement special is that it's over a basic consumer banking business practice. For years, banks have been processing your daily transactions in order from highest to lowest, rather than real-time. They say they're doing us a favor so that if we have a check bounce, it's the one for the babysitter and not the mortgage payment. But this class action suit claims that Bank of America did this to unjustly enrich itself. It's one of over 60 lawsuits against various banks for similar practices, and it could reshape the entire industry.

Here are the list of questions of law and fact in the BofA case, which are just hilarious because they largely describe common banking practices:

44. Among the questions of law and fact common to the Classes are whether Bank of

America:

a. Does not clearly disclose and/or refuses to allow its customers to opt out of its overdraft protection program;

b. Does not obtain affirmative consent from its customers prior to processing transactions that will result in overdraft fees;

c. Does not alert its customers that a debit card transaction will trigger an overdraft fee, and does not provide its customers with an opportunity to cancel such transactions;

d. Manipulates and reorders. transactions so that it can increase the number of overdraft fees it imposes;

e. Manipulates and reorders debits from highest to lowest in order to maximize the number of overdrafts and, consequently, the amount of overdraft fees;

f. Imposes overdrafts and overdraft fees' when, but for reordering transactions, there would otherwise be sufficient funds in the account;

g. Fails to provide customers with accurate balance information;

h. Delays posting of transactions by customers using debit cards so that customers are charged overdraft fees on transactions, even though the customers had sufficient

funds in their accounts to cover the transactions upon execution;

i. Charges exorbitant overdraft fees that bear no relationship to the actual costs and risks of covering insufficient funds transactions;

j. Breaches its covenant of good faith and fair dealing with plaintiff and other members of the Classes through its overdraft policies and practices;

k. Requires its customers to enter into standardized account agreements which include unconscionable provisions;

l. Converts moneys belonging to Plaintiffs and other members of the Classes through its overdraft policies and practices;

m. Is unjustly enriched through its overdraft policies and practices; and

n. Violates the consumer protection acts of certain states through its overdraft policies and practices.

For this particular class action, you'll get a notice in the mail if you're a class member, which is anyone who had a Bank of America debit card between Jan 2001 and May 24, 2011, and you'll automatically get a payment or credit.

Until banks are forced to change this deceptive practice, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself from the reordered transaction shim sham. First, don't opt-in to overdraft protection if the bank tries to get you to. No longer can they automatically put you in but that won't stop them from trying to get you to sign up. Second, ask to set an upper limit to only allow overdrafts at a preset negative balance amount so you can keep the damage from hemorrhaging. Make sure to read your bank policies so that you know how many overdrafts they can charge you in a day and what the fees are. And always keep an eye on your account balance and know how much you have before you swipe or write a check, you shouldn't be spending more than is currently in your account.

bofaoverdraftsettlement [Official Site]

RELATED

Customers challenge the way banks reorder debits in order to rack up overdraft fees [Denver Post]

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